Star Wars Episode 9 has officially been given a title

Star Wars Celebration 2019 is underway in Chicago, and Disney is starting to deal the details about Star Wars Episode 9 that many of us were looking forward to. Today, the company revealed the full title for Episode 9, which will wrap up the Skywalker Saga more than 40 years after it first started with A New Hope. Perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising, then, that the full title for Episode 9 references the family at the center of this franchise.

Before we continue forward, we should let you know that this article will contain some major spoilers for The Last Jedi, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to stop reading. With that out of the way, Disney revealed today that the full title of Episode 9 will be Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The company, of course, didn’t go into detail about what that title means, and on the surface at least, it’s a little confusing given the events of The Last Jedi.

We may not have official details yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a few educated guesses as to what this title means. Even though Luke seemingly died at the end of The Last Jedi, that doesn’t mean he’s gone for good. In fact, Star Wars has taught us that when a Force-sensitive person dies, they become one with the Force and their power grows, à la Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original trilogy.

So, the title is likely a reference to the fact that Luke has become even stronger after dying and becoming one with the Force. Of course, there’s also the possibility that the title is a reference to Rey – though we still don’t know who Rey’s parents are, it’s likely that they’ll be revealed in Episode 9, and one of the most popular fan theories out there is that she’s the child of Luke Skywalker.

That this could be a reference to Rey (or even someone else) instead of Luke seems unlikely, but you never know what kind of twists Disney has up its sleeve. We’ll probably be waiting until the movie is out to learn more about just what that title means, but get ready to hear plenty of theories in the meantime. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be out in theaters on December 20, 2019.